


Wonder and Awe

by MapleMooseMuffin



Series: 12 Days of Sheithmas (2018) [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, I'm not usually the Christmas hyped person but here we are, M/M, This was going to be like 400 words but then it got bigger oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 21:14:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16981908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MapleMooseMuffin/pseuds/MapleMooseMuffin
Summary: Shiro catches Keith outside the Atlas canteen with all the joy of a little boy on Christmas morning. "I want to show you something."--On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree.





	Wonder and Awe

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a fluffy drabble to throw onto Twitter in between some work I have to do, but then it got longer than I meant for it to lol.  
> I'm thinking of doing a little drabble every day leading up to Chirstmas, especially since I'll be away afterwards into the new year. 
> 
> This is fast, barely edited, and hot off the press, so bear with me lol.
> 
> Enjoy!~

The concept that they've been gone for years seems real enough in theory, but it isn't until notable dates start to pass that it really sinks in. When little kids start parading around the civilian streets in homemade Voltron costumes, Keith realizes he's missed his birthday. It hits him that he isn't even sure how old he is anymore.

Their region stays warm even in the winter, so the only real signs of the season shifting are the turns of calendar pages that Keith struggles to keep up with. There's too much to do, and no days off. Time becomes a massive run on sentence, no different than the void-time the paladins were used to on the Castle of Lions.

For Shiro, the passage of time is even stranger, after his stint in the astral plane, where time seemed infinite and nonsensical. He spends a few months focusing on his body, the feel and function of it, and his suddenly renewed need of sleep. It's surprisingly difficult to go from an incorporeal insomnia to a living body with limitations.

Once he does adjust, however, he becomes obsessed with the little details of his life. Keith hides smiles behind his hand the first time they go out to Shiro's favorite diner and Shiro raves about how he's never tasted a burger as perfect as the one he's half buried in right then.

So when Shiro shows up at Keith's side after dinner in the Atlas canteen one night, catching him in one of the rare moments their brief periods of rest actually align, Keith doesn't think much of his excited smile or the way he says "I want to show you something," before taking his hand. For all Keith knows, Shiro's just discovered some new corridor of the Atlas with a set of windows he hasn't gotten to look out of yet. He's expecting some adorably mundane joy to be at the end of their walk.

Even so, the way Shiro grins like a kid in a candy store makes Keith's heart soar in his chest. That grin is infectious, as is his excitement, and soon the two of them are racing through the halls with no care for Garrison decorum or the fact that Shiro is the captain of this ship. One of the MFE's whoops as they race past, laughing at the simple happiness radiating off of them.

It feels good to run like this, for fun, with no threat behind them or dire circumstance at the end of the hall.

When Shiro stops suddenly outside his quarters he has to grab Keith to keep him from overshooting. Keith laughs, caught in his favorite person's arms, and turns into the hug, panting and blinking hair out of his eyes. Shiro's cheeks are rosy from exertion and joy. Keith pulls up to kiss him, soft and wet.

"What were you going to show me?" he asks when he lowers back down. Shiro blinks a moment, staring at Keith like he's forgotten anything else. Keith curls closer, warm and pleased.

Shiro blinks his eyes away to the scanner where he places his Altean hand. "In here."

The lights of his quarters are off, but there's a soft glow inside. Keith's surprised that the Atlas has shifted herself again to mimic the Altean glow strips from the Castle of Lions, until he fully steps in the room and realizes the light is only radiating from one corner. That corner is half filled with a four foot plastic tree, draped in fairy lights.

Shiro brings the overhead light up to half brightness to show off the tinsel draped around the tree. It shimmers in the twinkling lights flickering from the fake evergreen branches.

"It's Christmas?" Keith asks, still breathless from the run. Shiro comes up beside him and settles a hand in the small of his back.

"Not yet, but soon. Isn't it beautiful?" He sounds like he's in awe. Keith can't help laughing, soft and low.

"We were in space for years, and you're still floored by little lights?"

"People made these. The stars are natural, results of reactions eons ago. But these. People took the stars and made them their own."

Keith looks up at Shiro, at the sparkle of wonder in his eyes, and suddenly he gets it. Shiro hasn't just been obsessed with his own humanity lately. He's been obsessed with all humanity. _This_ is what they're protecting. These little, magical experiences.

Keith turns back to the tree, braced at the base with a handful of wrapped boxes. One in every color of Voltron. It's been probably a decade since he's wrapped a Christmas present. Suddenly he wants to do it again.

Scanning Shiro's handiwork on the tree, he notices there aren't any ornaments, which is probably for the best. This is still a spaceship, after all. There's bound to be turbulence, and a field of broken glass from a fallen Christmas tree isn't something anyone wants to deal with. But peeking out near the top he notices a strange little shape.

Stepping forward to get a better look, he sees it's a little origami crane, made from wrapping paper with thread wound around its neck and tail to hang by.

"What's this?" he asks, tapping the little paper bird.

"A partridge," Shiro says proudly. Keith breaks into a fit of snickers. "What? It's a bird, it counts."

Keith turns and wraps his arms around Shiro's neck. "You're adorable," he tells him. Shiro gives him a baffled look, lost in the tides between insult and compliment. Keith settles him with a long kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/maplmoosemuffin) or [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/MapleMooseMuffin). <3


End file.
